[hider=More On Aliens] The High Gods themselves are... well. They’re probably like the Annunaki, but they project their own conceptions of themselves so forcefully that it’s hard to think about them clearly. Ishtar [i]is[/i] the Queen of Heaven, undeniable and irresistible; Marduk [i]is[/i] the General, terrifying and vicious. Though individual recollections differ, they’re usually described like members of the Annunaki: bronze-skinned and dark-haired, tall and willowy, bedecked in gold and silks. It’s just that they’re also ten feet tall and heavily armored and could crush you like a bug while you cower at their feet.

Shrikes are terrifying. Seven feet tall with an impressive wingspan, they would be difficult to fight, what with their arsenal of weapons and nigh-impervious armor plating, even if they weren’t upgraded with thaumatech to be inhumanly strong and agile. They never give up on a mission once they have their orders, they sometimes work in teams, and the only good thing about them is that they’re hideously expensive and time-consuming to make, each one worth more than some planets. It’s estimated that the occupation only has thirty Shrikes to keep the entire planet in line. (Well. Maybe not the only good thing. Everybody’s heard the friend-of-a-friend story of running into a Shrike while unveiled, and simply having them haltingly, clumsily laugh and then just advise the criminal not to get caught again.)

The Thornbacks are bad news. They’re put-upon personal assistants, skilled artisans, and taskmasters, and there’s nothing your average Thornback likes more than venting stress by punching down. They have more in common with cacti than any mammal, and have wizened little faces, gangly limbs covered in spurs and spikes, and fingers with far too many joints in them. Most of them are a deep, glossy black, and they commonly wear either thorn-pinned scarves or loose robes, depending on their owner’s preferences.

Djinn are the Annunaki answer to AI, and because the Annunaki are terrible, that answer is to imprison a dispersed energy consciousness in a magnetized lead vessel, only letting it partially phase out to serve as an interface. They’re capable of doing complex thaumaturgic calculations on the fly and memorizing practically anything for brief periods, but they frequently have to dump their memory, given how they are plied with the wines of magnetism into a haze of vapid laughter and geniality.

Salamanders are four-armed, reptilian bombshells, if you’re into dating outside of your species. They’re [i]very[/i] sinuous. They’re also a warning for humanity, having forgotten the name of their own planet and the history of their species entirely. Most of them want to keep their heads down and avoid trouble, but there’s always one or two enchanted by Earth and willing to share their knowledge of how to get by...

Lynxes are feline aliens, graceful and swift, used as hunters and messengers and dancers by the Annunaki. Shrikes are too important to use on minor troublemakers, so most insurgent cells instead have to worry about Lynx trackers. More than one would-be revolutionary has found themselves dragged into a dark alley for interrogation by hunters with ungentle claws and fangs. (And more than one has, in turn, been saved by canny use of perfume bombs. Sufficiently pungent odors give them crippling migraines.)

Trolls are huge, multi-limbed silicon-based creatures used as guards, construction workers and shock troops by the Annunaki, in each case relying on their ability to carry out orders implicitly. Rumor has it that the last Troll Queen is secured in the vaults of Babylon, each one of her eggs removed by handlers before they can hatch, and that for her sake no Troll will ever disobey orders.

Macaws are small, brightly-plumed flightless avians, now finding themselves directly competing with humans for “who’s the cutest?” About half the height of a human, with brilliant feathers, they’re useful as singers, messengers and decoration, as well as household staff, and most of them are pretty quietly bitter that humans are both good at those things and close enough to Annunaki in appearance to be favored.[/hider]